


The Way It Was Always Meant To Be

by CaptainWeasley



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Drabble Collection, F/M, Fluff, Katara and Aang call each other sweetie in the comics don't judge me I didn't make the rules, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Smut, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-24
Updated: 2015-02-25
Packaged: 2018-03-14 23:12:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3429032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainWeasley/pseuds/CaptainWeasley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Gaang are in their twenties and Aang, Katara and Zuko are in a polyamorous relationship. This is a collection of drabbles all set in the same universe, not necessarily in chronological order.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Obsession

**Author's Note:**

> All drabble prompts taken from [here](http://kathrineroid.wordpress.com/2011/09/25/100-themes-challenge-writing-prompts/).

Zuko was not obsessed with either of them, of that he was sure. He just liked to watch them, to touch them, to be with them, wanted to think of nothing else but their eyes and their smiles and their kisses. That was what people in relationships did, wasn't it? There was nothing obsessive about it.  
Waking up to the smell of Katara's hair made him want to keep his eyes closed forever, just breathing her in was better than the feeling of the sun on his skin.  
Sometimes, when Aang smiled at him that way he had, so sweet and charming, Zuko wondered how he had ever gotten so lucky.  
They would break his heart one day; one day it would be too small to hold of his love for them and it would just crack, overflowing with emotion.

~~~

They were attending the opening ceremony of the annual Festival of the Republic, and Aang was giving a speech about—something. Zuko wasn't really listening to the individual words, he was too distracted by watching the Avatar's hands. He was gesturing while he spoke, apparently without realizing he was doing it; small movements of his hands that were keeping the fire lord captivated. Aang had such wonderful hands, gentle and kind and entirely too skilled; Zuko and Katara entirely agreed on that. Zuko tried to concentrate, he was supposed to give the next speech in a few minutes, he shouldn't be distracted right now, but he couldn't help it. All he wanted was to go over to Aang and to kiss him senseless, but there were thousands of people watching them; people who would never suspect that the Avatar and his wife weren't the only people in their relationship, people who would never know any different.  
And so Zuko contented himself with watching his boyfriend's hands, revelling in the sound of his voice while unable to hear a single word. He would just have to wing his own speech, he had done that before, it wasn't that big of a deal. Now, he just wanted to savor the sight of the Avatar in front of him.

~~~

Zuko watched them practice waterbending forms one day, and no matter how good Aang had gotten, Katara was still the true master. Her movements were so effortless, so natural; at times she seemed to be one with the element. It was exhilarating to watch, she barely had to concentrate to execute her forms to perfection, she had practised them so often for so long. There was a sense of tranquility in her features, her eyes half-closed, every drop of water bending to her will. It was in those moments that she radiated sheer power, a kind of power that not even Aang could match. The water droplets were shimmering on her skin, she almost seemed to be glowing in the light of the sun; she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  
She came over to him after the practice session, and he pulled her into his arms, kissing her fervently. Her skin and her clothes were still wet, her element clinging to her as desperately as they were to each other; there was no better feeling in the world—or maybe there was, he thought, when Aang brushed his hair aside and started kissing his neck, his hands wandering towards Zuko's stomach.

One day, his heart would break, he knew it, one day it would crack in two. One day, if he was lucky.


	2. Eternity

When Katara woke up between her lovers, the first thing she noticed was the warmth. It was a wonder she hadn't woken sooner, she felt like she was trapped in a volcano. A very soft volcano with arms embracing her from either side, but still entirely too hot. That was why she always tried to avoid sleeping in the middle, but after last night they had all been so exhausted that she hadn't even remembered to swap places with one of them before falling asleep. A wide smile on her face, she thought back on their reunion the previous day. Aang and her hadn't seen Zuko for two whole months, and so they had spent the whole evening thoroughly enjoying him.   
The two men were still sleeping, of course, seeing as neither of them was slowly being burned alive. This was Zuko's kind of thing, not her's. He enjoyed the warmth, naturally; they really should have swapped places before falling asleep. He was lying behind her now, nose buried deep in her hair, she could feel his even breaths between her shoulders. One of his arms was lying across her waist, the weight of it familiar and comforting.  
When she opened her eyes she could make out Aang lying on his back in the dark, his left arm propped up against her stomach. She loved watching him sleep, he had an innocence on his face that reminded her of the boy he had been, all those years ago, the boy she had fallen in love with and who had grown up to become a damn sexy all-powerful Avatar. She wished she could turn around and look at Zuko as well, but she probably would have woken both him and Aang in the attempt. It was really getting awfully hot though. She fidgeted slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position, when she heard Zuko groaning sleepily behind her.  
"Katara, the sun's not even up yet."  
She sighed. _Great job not waking anyone up, really._  
"I'm being boiled alive here."  
She tried to turn around carefully without disturbing Aang, at least, a feat obstructed by Zuko's point-blank refusal to move even one inch, no matter how hard she pushed.  
“Come on, sleeping in the middle is not half as bad as you always make it out to be.“  
He was moving his head now, though, placing soft kisses on the back of her neck, and she was sorely tempted to endure the heat a while longer.  
"Zuko, you're a firebender. It's different for you."  
"Can't be that different."  
As much as she hated losing arguments, in that moment she wasn't concentrating too hard on formulating a witty reply—Zuko had started drawing circles on her hip, the touch of his fingertips light and promising, slowly wandering down towards her hot, wet center.  
"Good morning to you, too," Aang chimed in.  
"Morning, Aang."  
Zuko's fingers reached _that_ spot and Katara gasped.  
"H—hi, sweetie."  
Aang gave her a kiss on the mouth, then leaned across her to kiss Zuko as well.  
"So, I hear you hate being in the middle?"  
Aang was grinning at her, with that spark in his eye that he got when he was up to something.  
"Sleeping! I—oh!— _sleeping_ in the m—ah..."  
It was really hard to concentrate on speaking while Zuko's fingers were rubbing her clit.  
"Did you hear _being_?"  
Aang was looking at Zuko with the most innocent look on his face that he could manage, but Katara could feel Zuko's grin against her shoulder. These two were unbelievable.  
"Yes, I definitely heard _being_."  
Aang started kissing down her neck towards her breasts, his touches light and gentle like a morning breeze.  
"That's a shame," he murmured between kisses. "If you hate it so much, we'll have to stop this."  
He licked one of her nipples before taking it into his mouth and sucking on it; it was nearly her undoing.  
"No," Katara moaned, "don't—ahh!"  
She was so close, they couldn't stop now, it wasn't the same using her own hands, they mustn't stop touching her.  
"You want us to stop?"  
Aang started caressing her inner thighs with one hand, perfectly aware of the fact that that was one of her weak spots. There was not much dignity in the lecherous moans that were coming out of her mouth, but she was past the point of caring.  
"No, please..."  
"Please what?" This time it was Zuko's voice, quieter than Aang's, closer to her ear; the voice that she had missed those past two months.  
"Please don't stop!" she whimpered desperately.  
They didn't indeed, but before Katara could come up with a plan to take revenge on them for teasing her like that, pleasure overtook her body and that was all she could focus on. She came with a shudder and a half-screamed moan, collapsing between her husband and her boyfriend.  
They were both very gentle with her then; Zuko was kissing the back of her neck again while Aang caressed her face. Katara gave each of them a kiss, utterly exhausted.  
She had missed this; and now they were finally back together again, if only for a few short days. Sleeping with Aang was nice, but it was not the same when it was just the two of them, and she knew that he shared her view on that. Aang, Zuko and her belonged together, and she was glad that they had all found each other, even if they couldn't make their arrangement public and had to keep their love a secret.  
"I really do hate sleeping in the middle though," she grumbled when she had recovered somewhat, bending the water from a flask across the room towards her to freshen herself up.  
"Too bad, I'm not getting up before dawn."  
"Neither am I," Aang agreed with a yawn.  
Katara was sorely tempted to splash cold water in their faces, then again she supposed she would be able to manage a while longer between the two. It definitely had its advantages, she thought with a smirk.


	3. Friendship

"We invited you all here because we wanted to tell you something."  
Aang knew his voice sounded confident and self-assured, but the truth was that he was more nervous than when he had given his speech to the thousands of people who had come to witness the official ceremony of the creation of Republic City. He had had extensive opportunities to practise addressing large crowds, and he had almost gotten used to it. And even though there were only six people in the room now, he was finding this talk a lot more difficult than public speaking.  
His eyes found Katara's, then Zuko's. She gave him an encouraging smile, while Zuko nodded in support.  
"Oh, just spit it out, Twinkle Toes. You're in love, my feet can see that from back here."  
Typical Toph. She really wasn't one for delicate moments, or wordy speeches, for that matter.  
"Yeah, of course he's in love, he's about to get married to my sister! Anyway, how do you see those kinds of things with your feet?"  
"Your heart rate changes profoundly when you look at a person you love." Toph grinned at Aang knowingly. "This should be _very_ interesting."  
"Why? What's going on, Aang?" Suki seemed quite concerned, and Aang wanted to slam his head against a wall.  
"I've been trying to tell you! If you could all just listen for a minute..."  
Damn, he didn't usually lose his patience so quickly, but from the moment Zuko, Katara and him had decided to tell their friends about their arrangement, he had been nervous about how the others would react. And he had not planned for it to go like this.  
His eyes moved from Toph's entirely too knowing smile to the concern on Suki's face and finally to Sokka's look of pure confusion.  
"Well, like Toph said, I'm in love—"  
"Yeah, tell us something we don't know." Sokka was hit by a snowball, full in the face. He turned around to see Katara glare at him, more snowballs floating above her hands, ready to strike. "Sorry," he mouthed towards her.  
"But I'm not the only one who is in love..." Aang cursed himself inwardly, this was not at all how he had wanted to say it. He looked at Katara, somewhat helplessly.  
"What Aang is trying to say is, our relationship is not exactly what you think it is."  
"Ooohhhhh!" Toph looked extremely pleased with herself for having worked it out first. "So _that's_ how you solved that! Ha!" She punched Zuko in the shoulder, a wide grin on her face. "I didn't think you had it in you, oh mighty fire lord."  
Zuko shook his head half-heartedly, he seemed to have expected something like that from the earthbender.  
"Thanks a lot, Toph."  
Aang couldn't help but grin at Zuko's sarcasm. Sokka seemed to be catching on, looking from Aang to Zuko, his mouth hanging open.  
"WHAT! You and— _him_?! He and you?"  
"Well, and me," Katara clarified, somewhat indignant at being ignored by her brother.  
"The three of you?!" Sokka seemed unsure who he should look at, he glanced from Katara to Zuko to Aang and back so rapidly that his eyes appeared kind of blurred.  
"Told you," Toph chimed in happily, "didn't think the fire lord here had it in him."  
Suki just looked like she was too stunned to say anything.  
"Yep, the three of us," Aang sighed. The secret was out now, he just hoped their friends could handle it. The only one of them who was obviously enthusiastic about the news was Toph, who was clearly impressed.  
"But—but how do you..?"  
"Sokka, do you really want to know?" Katara's voice was harsh, much harsher than it normally was, and Aang couldn't blame her.  
"No, no of course not."  
"Then why do you even ask?"  
Sokka shook his head, exasperated.  
"This is crazy."  
"I think it's brilliant." Suki had recovered from her shock, and was smiling brightly at the three of them. "I always thought you two had a lot of chemistry," she added, nodding at Katara and Zuko.  
Zuko's eyes widened in surprise. "You did?"  
"And you were completely right." The smugness in Toph's voice was unmistakable. "They were already in love _way_ back, they just didn't have the guts to admit it."  
Aang wasn't surprised at the words themselves, seeing as he, Katara and Zuko had talked about these things extensively; what did surprise him though was that Toph knew so much about it. He had never really thought about how much she knew about everyone, just by listening to their heartbeats and their breathing patterns.  
"Well, now we do," Katara declared.  
"Sweetness, I never thought I would say this, but I am kind of jealous. You'll have to tell me all about it someday." Toph grinned and Katara started to grin as well.  
"You can count on it."  
Zuko and Aang stared at each other in alarm, but before one of them could do anything to try to prevent that nightmare from happening—and it was a nightmare, Toph would never run out of teasing material if she knew too many intimate details—Sokka started to speak.  
"I still think you're all crazy, but you are my friends. If this is the right thing for you... you should probably go for it."  
"Thanks, Sokka," Aang said seriously. He had feared that Sokka would come to a different conclusion, and he was relieved his love hadn't destroyed one of his friendships.  
"Come on, everyone, group hug!"  
"Suki, really?" Despite her lack of enthusiasm, Toph joined the others in their circle.

~~~

"Well, that did _not_ go the way I'd planned it." Aang was playing with Zuko's hair. He loved the texture of it, and it felt so different from Katara's. If he couldn't grow out his own hair at least he could enjoy that of his two lovers.  
"When does anything ever go the way you planned it?" Katara's voice sounded muffled against his back, she would fall asleep any minute.  
"Remember the time you and Katara wanted to talk to me about opening up your relationship?"  
Zuko was smiling fondly and Aang cringed.  
"That was horrible."  
"I thought it was sweet." Zuko gave Aang a kiss.  
"Zuko, you're an idiot and I love you," Katara commented sleepily.  
Zuko smiled. "I love you too."  
"Hey, what about me?" Aang asked in mock outrage.  
"Love you too, sweetie."  
"What she said."  
Aang nudged Zuko playfully in the ribs, grinning. This was one of his favourite parts of their relationship; with two people there were only two _I love you_ s, one for each person, but with the three of them, there were six. Well, most of the time, anyway.  
"I love you. Both of you."  
Katara was slowly falling asleep behind Aang while he kissed Zuko goodnight, extensively. He was really glad their friends had taken the news so well. Hiding his feelings from the public was one thing, but hiding them from his closest friends was quite another.  
"I love you," he whispered into his boyfriend's ear a while later, that was something you really couldn't say too often.  
"I love you, too," Zuko replied, his voice just as quiet. That was something you really couldn't hear too often, either, Aang thought with a smile.


End file.
